4 months and 32 pounds ago….

4 months into this healthy lifestyle journey and I have reached every goal that I have set for myself. I wanted to lose an average of 8 pounds a month and as of yesterday. May 2nd, I have lost 32 lbs and feel better than I have in years. I am down 2 pant sizes, 2 shirt sizes and have to buy new clothes!! This has been the toughest attempt I have ever had in the losing weight department. In my younger days, dropping weight was easy. I could lose 10 pounds at the drop of a hat. Since I turned 50 though, it has been a real struggle to lose this flab. If you have been keeping up with my journey, you know how I have struggled and celebrated any accomplishment just to keep myself motivated. Truth is there were times i just wanted to say TO HELL WITH IT and go get me some ice cream and super sized pizza. That would have been the easy way out and I would not only let myself down but, my wonderful wife as well. She and our son are the real reason why I decided to make the change. I knew that I was heading down a dark path and if I wanted to be around to enjoy life with them for many years, something had to change. So, here is where I stand after 4 months.

My wife had already started working out before I made the decision for a healthier lifestyle. I found that as I began to follow her lead, it helped motivate her as well. When I started dropping some weight, she was so proud and encouraging that I made me want to keep pushing forward. I also feel with me working as hard as I have been, she has pushed herself a bit harder and it has paid off. As of this writing, she has around 22 pounds herself. I made the decision in April to get up early, go to the gym and get my workout in, no more excuses. I think that motivated her to work harder during her workouts. She has really toned up and people are noticing too. She was featured in a video at her gym, proud hubby moment there. We both feel so much better, sleep so much better and have so much more energy than we did before. We may even have to d a little hiking later on this year. But exercise is only part of this equation.

We have been disciplined (for the most part) with our diet as well. We watch what we eat and don’t beat ourselves up if we slip up. This past weekend, it was hard to find good healthy choices while at her company seminar. They fed us deli sandwiches, so, we had to chunk the bread and eat meat and lettuce. We ate salads where we could but, splurged a bit and had a real hamburger with french fries OMG!!! All in all it wasn’t a bad trip and Monday morning, we were back to our routine and we are still moving forward. The two pictures below show you how far we have come in a years time. The first was from a year ago at the same seminar we attended this past weekend. The second is from this year. Can you see a difference?

I hope this helps motivate you to just keep moving forward in your push for a healthier lifestyle. It is a great feeling of accomplishment to have come this far in our journey but, we both know, we have more to go to reach out ultimate goals. Hopefully you will stick around and follow along with us as we hit each and every one of our goals. Bottom line is, if we can do this, you can to. You just have to make up your mind, commit and start moving!